Over 1,000 cases of child malnutrition have been identified in Thane district in Maharashtra adjacent to Mumbai. There are currently 83 cases of `severe acute malnutrition` and 1,161 cases of `moderate acute malnutrition,` according to an official release.

According to a report in PTI, Manuj Jindal, the chief executive officer of the Zilla Parishad, has stated his intention to eliminate malnourishment in Thane within six months. This determination stems from his visit to families with malnourished children in Shahapur taluka.

To address this problem, the district has launched the `Kuposhan Muktisathi Dattak-Palak Abhiyan.` Officials in this government-led project adopt particular children to offer required care. The CEO`s mandate for regular follow-ups with adopted children, aiming for contact every 15 days, was underlined in the release. Furthermore, Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, doctors, nurses, and supervisors have been instructed to make daily visits to malnourished children to check their improvement, the report added. 

During his visit, as per the PTI report, the CEO evaluated the operations of local public health clinics and child treatment centres, emphasising the need to provide ongoing care to these vulnerable youngsters.

Earlier in September, an RTI inquiry conducted by NGO Samarthan revealed that 51,104 children in Maharashtra, aged up to six years, have died from disorders caused by chronic nutritional deficiencies in the last 15 years. Despite its proximity to Mantralaya, the government appears to be disconnected, as 101 critical management and supervisory positions remain empty in Palghar, one of the 16 tribal-dominated districts, a mid-day report found out. 

While the CEO of the Palghar Zilla Parishad indicated that attempts would be made to fill vacant jobs with contractual staff, a tribal issues activist pointed out that the majority of these vacancies are for managerial and supervisory posts, which are crucial for hiring responsible personnel.

Tribal communities can be found in Thane, Raigad, Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Dhuke, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nanded, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Nagpur, and Chandrapur, among other places. These communities experience the same issues as Palghar in terms of low birth weight (LBW), pre-term delivery, and poor nutrition.

Rupesh Kir, coordinator of Samarthan, citing data from the health department, stated that over 51,000 tribal children tragically lost their lives in Maharashtra over 15 years and that Nandurbar was the worst afflicted area, with 3,939 documented instances of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) until December 2022.

The NGO`s research disclosed that the number of SAM cases in 16 tribal-dominated areas increased alarmingly from 2,540 in 2020 to 5,327 by the end of 2022. 

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